(Portland, OR) -- A Portland Bureau of Transportation employee is facing multiple charges after being accused in a car-theft operation. Authorities say 53-year-old Barbara Lorraine Peterson allegedly tipped off a tow-truck driver to reports of abandoned vehicles in the Portland area. Police say the truck driver would then steal the abandoned vehicles and bring them to a facility where they were crushed and sold as scrap. Investigators allege that Peterson was paid cash for providing the tips.